"Word of Mouth Gospel"
Creating Customer Evanglists - her book
Citizen Marketers new book
blog - The Church of the Customer http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/

  • most trusted aadvertising
    • REocmmendaitonf rom others
    • newspapers
    • oterh peoples opinions online
    • company websites
    • television
  • recommenations by another is the most important
  • asl this "would you recommend us to a friend or colleague" most important question to customers
  • companies with thie highest word of mouth had the largest growth
  • Loyalty
    • is confusing word today
    • "the willinigness to make an investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship"
  • Behaviors of customers
    • Satisfaction surveys should be dumped
    • Retention, says something about loyaltiy
    • Word of mouth is the real loyalty - indicates higher loyalty
    • Evangelism is next higher - people go out of way to make sure recommendation amounts to a sale
    • HIghest level is Ownership - the customer feels like they are a part of your organization;
  • Customer evangelism
    • Do we have a remarkable product or service - cannot be average;
    • Some people become true believere
    • Passionate evangelists
  • True evangelists recruits new customers - are also the first to tell you what is wrong with what you do.
    • For every 26 people that complain only one will contact the company - those that contact us can be turned into evangelists
    • Evangelists will defend you if somebody has a negative thing to say
  • When evangelists create content online - 35% of 48 million of those online create content - become citizen marketers
  • The Democratization of Technology
  • Becomes the Democratizatin of Media
  • Social Media - media is becoming a 2-way media; makes it more powerful; content posted and then commented on
    • Check the McNuggets rap on YouTube
    • Comcast video on YouTube
  • 87% or internet users research onlnine before buying
  • Organizations should have google alerts setup about you, school, organzation
  • Tenets of customer evangelists
    • Gather feedback - need more mechanisms - formal surveys; more the better. Even with formal survey Klimpton CEO calls customers to gather feedback. Paetec-customer advisory boards, 20 customers per, gather feedback, company does not talk,
    • Napsterize your knowledge - way for people to share on the internet, word spreads. MIT open courseware is an example. Put courses on the web for free. Impacted enrollment for the school. more qualified students applied. was an investment for them. GM blog. have a YouTube channel also. Using social media to spread the word.
    • Build the Buzz - give evangelists something to talk about. gives them a reason to talk to others. Need to be creative. Power of the network gets the word out.
    • Create Community - how can you put customers together. Maker's Mark bourbon is an example. Maker's Mark Ambassador's Program. Gave customers business cards, gave them a barrel number, etc. Created ownership with the company. Customers can participate in the bottling...builds community for what the company does. Get customers to help with the redesign of products/co-design.
    • Create a Cause - A cause behind the organization. Some companies adopt a cause. Or, how are you changing the world for your customer. PetSmart got it. Realize that their customers were pet parents and reorganized their stores. The now have begun to rollout pet hotels rather than kennels.
Bruce's Contribution:
Jackie Huba, Morning Keynote Speaker
Since 2001, Jackie has been researching the effect of word-of-mouth marketing. Wrote a book called "Citizen Marketers." Blog called "Church of the Customer."
  • What do people trust when thinking about buying something?
    • Recommendations from others
    • Newpapers
    • Online opinions
    • Company websites
    • Television
  • Number 1 indicator of Organizational Growth: "Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague?"
  • Loyalty = the willingness to make and investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship
  • Satisfaction is not a good indicator of program success: dump the satisfaction survey and ask questions about the degree to which they would go out of their way to share their experience with others, reaching toward the highest level that Jackie calls "ownership,' meaning that they feel "part of the family," recommending changes and sharing their experience with others as though they have a part in the whole enterprise
  • The "negative" customers, those who are won over by being cared for, become the defenders of your program. Start to see the complainers as the future evangelists after they have been listened to and helped.
  • What happens when your evangelists create content on line? They begin sharing their perspectives about your service, influencing others.
Create a blog that talks about online learning in Virginia Beach - put student and parent comments, summary of surverys, etc, on the blog. Include teacher and student info
Ask John Merrit to give ideas about how the experience as a teacher can be improved for teachers like you.
  • Comcast technician falls asleep video on youtube
  • Mac's Mcnuggets video on YouTube
  • 87% of internet users research something on line before buying
Put google alert on VBCPS and VVBe
Tenets of Creating Evangelists
  • Gather feedback
  • Napsterize your knowledge - create a network for your evangelists (e.g., MIT) using new social media
Get Kim to do YouTube video with students?
  • Build the Buzz - innovative marketing ideas that get people talking…
Let's get creative and emphasize to kids that we WANT them to utilize social networking tools (inside D2L and OUTSIDE) to improve their experience in courses… Hmmm… Sign Up With a Friend?
  • Create Community - Think of your customers as a community of like-minded people, and find ways to put them together. Think of Maker's Mark Ambassadors…
Course participants and teachers who submit ideas get credited on the MASTER course home page?
Theme: "We want your learning experience to be as far from the classroom as it can be."
  • Create a Cause - how are you changing the world of your customer?
New tag line to add to our logo?